Murder Suicides Los Angeles County

September 18, 1988 | SHERRY BARBER, Barber is a Southern California writer. and

On July 27, when pictures of a smiling, 11-year-old Judith Barsi were shown on the 11 o'clock news, the last thing I expected to hear about the talented young actress was that she'd been murdered. Judith's mother, Maria, told me her husband had threatened to burn the house down, but she never confided, nor did I ever suspect, he might kill his wife and child.

While several hundred wedding guests watched, a man shot and killed his estranged wife and her current boyfriend, and then apparently turned the gun on himself at a restaurant in Long Beach, police, witnesses and relatives said Sunday. Poly Kree, 41, and her boyfriend, Vichekka Chit, 44, were shot in the head Saturday night on the same dance floor where Kree married the assailant, Le Tan Phuc, in December 1999, said Kree's 18-year-old son, Sokhan Theam.

February 26, 1991 | JOHN CHANDLER and PHILIPP GOLLNER, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

A Lancaster man stabbed his eldest daughter to death, fatally shot his wife and two other daughters, then used the gun to kill himself Monday, sheriff's deputies say. Authorities in the Antelope Valley said they had no idea why Roy J. Anderson, 39, opened fire with a .38-caliber handgun inside the family's modest stucco house in the 43600 block of Carefree Court. The two younger daughters were shot in the head; Roy Anderson shot himself under the chin, deputies said.

A man who allegedly killed his wife Friday afternoon fell to his death from a Century Freeway connector a short time later and crashed through the roof of a car 80 feet below, killing the driver and injuring a passenger. At 2:30 p.m., Osmin Ernesto Bonilla, 28, pulled his Ford Explorer onto the shoulder of the westbound Century Freeway connector to the Harbor Freeway, shot himself and plunged onto a Toyota Camry traveling south on the Harbor Freeway, police said.

A child actress whose credits included the film "Jaws IV: The Revenge" was believed to have died with her mother Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide initiated by her father, who set fire to the family's San Fernando Valley home before taking his own life, authorities said. The bodies were found in the heavily damaged West Hills home of Jozsef and Maria Barsi, whose only child, Judith, 11, had also appeared in numerous television shows and about 50 commercials, officials said.

A worker fired by a Santa Fe Springs electronics company killed three former co-workers and wounded two others Monday before fatally shooting himself, authorities said. Panic-stricken workers of Extron Electronics dropped to the floor or ran screaming from the building as the gunman yelled, "Get down!" in Vietnamese and began firing, investigators said.

A 21-year-old ex-USC student returned to his Norwalk high school Wednesday morning, tracked down the 16-year-old sweetheart who had just broken up with him and, in front of her horrified fellow students, fatally shot her with a volley of handgun fire before taking his own life. Sheriff's deputies said honor student Catherine Tran died of multiple gunshot wounds where she fell on the campus of John Glenn High School.

A Lawndale man killed his wife and then shot himself, authorities said. A relative found the bodies of Aaron Blaxton, 38, and his wife Michelle, 32, after the couple's four children, ages 2 to 10, called to say that they were unable to rouse their parents, said Lt. Frank Merriman, a spokesman with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Merriman said one of the children reported hearing a gun shot at 11 p.m. Wednesday night after overhearing the parents arguing.

In an apparent murder-suicide Tuesday, a man entered a Honda dealership in Torrance, opened fire on a woman and then turned the gun on himself, police said. Co-workers said the dead woman was the estranged or former wife of the gunman. According to witnesses, 31-year-old Joe Kelly, a tow truck driver from Lomita, walked into the sales room of the Scott Robinson Honda dealership shortly before 11 a.m. and shot sales clerk Kim Kelly seven times before killing himself.

A judge has ordered Los Angeles County to open its child-abuse files on Judith Barsi, the child actress who was killed by her father last month. Judge Kathryn Doi Todd of Juvenile Dependency Court said she found "good cause" for allowing a watchdog agency to review the way the county Department of Children's Services handled the Barsi case, which ended in the shooting deaths of the mother and daughter a day or two before July 27.

July 12, 2001 | DAVID PIERSON and RICHARD FAUSSET, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

A history of domestic discord may have compelled a 67-year-old Woodland Hills woman to fatally shoot her husband and then take her own life, police said Wednesday. Lillian A. Gomes shot and killed her husband, Charles Gomes, 71, before shooting herself at the couple's home in the 5300 block of Dubois Ave., said Officer Ladonna Cissell of the Los Angeles Police Department. The two had been married for 49 years, but neighbors said Charles Gomes could often be heard shouting at his wife.

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer fatally shot his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in front of the man's Simi Valley home Saturday and then took his own life, authorities said. Geno Patrick Colello, a 35-year-old Rampart Division officer who also lived in Simi Valley, and Keith Thomas Ewing, a 34-year-old computer technician, both died at the scene, authorities said.

A gunman who killed three people and then committed suicide in a Bellflower condominium may have gone into a rage after a dispute with his brother-in-law, authorities said Tuesday. Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives, continuing to piece together what happened inside the two-story residence, released the names of the gunman and his victims. Investigators identified the gunman as Mark H. Broome, 31.

A 31-year-old Bellflower man shot his young wife and two other people to death before killing himself in his condominium Monday morning, police said. Police rushed to the home after the panicked wife called 911. She'd been shot, she said. A dispatcher heard gunfire in the background. By the time squad cars arrived and officers burst into the stone condominium, it was too late. A man and a woman were dead in an upstairs bedroom; another couple lay motionless on the first floor.

A 25-year-old janitor allegedly shot and killed his airman wife and wounded an Air Force law enforcement agent before committing suicide in the couple's on-base townhouse, military authorities said Friday. The man, identified by Kern County coroner's officials as Lafayette Gilbert Demyers, called 911 about 4:15 p.m. Thursday to report that he had killed his wife and was about to commit suicide, said base spokeswoman Lt. Cristin L'Esperance.

An estranged husband and wife were discovered dying of gunshot wounds to their chests Tuesday on the grass parkway of a Compton home, authorities said. Maria Cervantes, 43, and Raul Cervantes, 46, were found about 5:45 a.m. in the 800 block of North Thorson Avenue, said sheriff's Det. Toni Martinez. They were taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead, Martinez said.

A 50-year-old Hacienda Heights woman, apparently distraught about a pending family separation, killed her two young granddaughters Sunday before taking her own life, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said. The bodies of the little girls and of Mary Jane Schork were found in the Schork house by the girls' grandfather when he returned from an errand about 11 a.m., Sgt. Robert Stoneman said. Ashley Ramirez, 9, and Chelsey Ramirez, 3, were in one bedroom.

February 27, 1991 | LESLIE BERGER and JOHN CHANDLER, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

After 23 years of marriage, Roy and Deborah Anderson still met each other for lunch, the NASA electronics technician often joining his high school sweetheart at the elementary school where she was a secretary. Both worked at Edwards Air Force Base, where Roy Anderson recently won a special achievement award for his job performance. The base served as a family gathering place even after Anderson retired as a sergeant two years ago, having spent 20 years in the Air Force.

In an apparent murder-suicide Tuesday, a man entered a Honda dealership in Torrance, opened fire on a woman and then turned the gun on himself, police said. Co-workers said the dead woman was the estranged or former wife of the gunman. According to witnesses, 31-year-old Joe Kelly, a tow truck driver from Lomita, walked into the sales room of the Scott Robinson Honda dealership shortly before 11 a.m. and shot sales clerk Kim Kelly seven times before killing himself.